Poké Rangers: Legends of Sevii
by Phoenix Espeon
Summary: Far south of the mainland, the Sevii Islands have always been isolated from the world around them. Now Lady Abbadon is stirring, and the humans must counter with the Poké Rangers if they hope to survive.
1. Prologue

---

The quiet clatter of claws echoed in the cavern, a ghostly white-and-black shadow materializing out of seemingly nowhere to stand by its twin. "Has it begun, then?" the first asked, its voice distinctly feminine.

"Yes," answered the second. "Lady Abbadon is stirring from the Seal. Soon she will call her forces to her, and the Twilight will come."

"Then we had best be ready."

_we stand here at the crossroads of our destiny_

---

The Sevii Islands were located far south of the continent of Kanto. They were isolated from most of the world due to the swift-running currents of the sea surrounding them, and it took days for a bird Pokémon to fly from the mainland. As a result, many of Sevii's inhabitants were a bit…ah…_strange_.

This did not excuse the fact that someone was skulking around Seven Island's Tanoby Ruins.

Lily Delphi, Island Leader of Seven Island and a specialist in Psychic Pokémon, had come to the Tanoby Ruins upon hearing rumors of activity inside the Tanoby Key. There was always the chance that it was simply some annoying mainland trainer who had no idea how dangerous it was inside the Key, but that didn't mean she could afford to ignore it. As one of the Sevii Seven, she had learned of the secret history behind the creation of Sevii, and she couldn't just ignore it.

After all, there was danger involved. All that lovely mortal peril and death.

Pushing her sunglasses up on her forehead, Lily squinted in the dim light. There wasn't much she could see, as the Key was a cave and all that, but that could be changed. Selecting a Pokéball at her waist, she enlarged it and released one of her three Pokémon. "Psyche, I need light," she informed the Venomoth.

"Vee-nooo," Psyche agreed. She began to glow with white light, soft at first but quickly grew almost blinding. Most Venomoths didn't learn Morning Sun, but Psyche did.

The cave was thrown into sharp detail by the light, which Psyche maintained easily, keeping circulating the solar energy outside her body. Lily immediately noticed two things were out of place. Six of the boulders were occupying six of the seven pits, and a humanoid figure with brown armor and white, viciously curved scythes for arms was pushing the final, which was teetering precariously at the age of the seventh pit.

"Oh, damn," she whispered, just before the boulder fell in. A white flash that did not come from Psyche filled both trainer and Pokémon's vision. Through the blinding brilliance, she could hear a voice that was more likely than not the monster's.

"You shall do quite nicely…" 

_reality is fraying around us_

---

On One Island, a girl and her Persian were walking on Treasure Beach. The girl was young, though her Persian seemed quite capable, and was dressed in a long blue skirt, loose blue jacket, white blouse, and white sandals. Her hair was her most distinguishing feature, in a pair of sandy-colored pigtails. The Persian was sniffing at the ground, tail dragging, and leading the girl.

They stopped at a sheer rock wall that towered above their heads, blocking out the sun. "Thanks, Jin," the girl said, scratching behind the Persian's ears. She pulled a small device out of the pocket of her jacket, which looked suspiciously like a remote control for a toy car or something similar. The girl stabbed a button on the remote, and the rock wall rumbled, and then stilled. The girl walked forward into the stone illusion, her Persian following lazily.

"Aislynn? Aine? Turn on the lights already, I can't see in the dark," she called as a thick steel door slid back up behind her.

"Our apologies," a voice said, and white-gold light blazed into life from crystal balls placed upon the cavern walls, revealing a rather bleak gray expanse of stone. It also showed two girls. They could have been any age from ten to twenty, and were dressed identically, in long, flowing white robes, the same color as their long, loose hair. A black sash was tied around both their waists, and their skin was almost as dark. Both regarded the girl and her Persian with red eyes. One spoke first.

"So you received our call?"

"Yeah," the girl answered. "Why now?"

"Because, Tsukuyomi-san, Abbadon is coming, and we must be prepared. You are our only link to the outside world."

"Oh, great. So you mean…?" the girl trailed off.

"Yes. Come with us – the morphers are prepared. You must give them to the others." One of them turned to sit by the steel wall, and the other walked deeper into the cavern. The girl followed, her Persian padding silently along.

"How many are there?" the girl asked.

"Five."

"…But there's seven of us, Aislynn-or-Aine."

"Yes…unfortunately, we do not have one corresponding to your specialty, nor for Delphi-san's."

"Meh. There's no one I trust enough to be a ranger anyway, so that's okay."

They continued on in silence, the white-haired girl leading them both through a labyrinth of branching and merging corridors. She finally reached a dead end, where five small boxes were laid out, next to each other. Each was labeled neatly, "Two Island," "Three Island," "Four Island," "Five Island," and "Six Island" with what looked like black Sharpie, which seemed strange given their surroundings. The white-haired girl gathered them all up and handed them to the other, who shook her head and muttered something about needing some ways to hide things that didn't take so long.

"I believe that is everything."

"No. It's not."

"Oh?"

"Don't play dumb, Aislynn-or-Aine. If Lady Abbadon is awakening…then so is Lady Eden. I want to meet her. It'd be nice to know who I was taking orders from."

The white-haired girl tilted her head, eyeing the other with more respect. "That's all very well and nice, Tsukuyomi-san, but I am afraid you cannot truly meet Lady Eden."

"Why not?"

"She has sealed herself away until the final battle comes, to gather her strength."

"Okay, fine. Thanks, Aislynn-or-Aine. I can leave on my own."

The Persian slipped in front of her, almost racing out with tail held high. Apparently she didn't like the cold gray cave, and the girl followed. The other white-haired girl was no longer there, but an Absol had her paw placed on a stone before the steel wall, watching expressionlessly as the wall sunk back down into the earth, leaving behind only the rock illusion.

The Persian disappeared through the rock, and the girl followed blindly.

_you know you're blind when you see only black and white_

---

A/N: I tried to make the prologue not suck. Did it work? By the way, no, they won't all have annoying italics in them. I just stuck them in the prologue because I felt like it.

Yes, I realize that PhantomHuntress/AzureJustice has a villain named Aine. But I like my Aine-chan too much to change it. 'Sides, it's a good name.

So. Submitting characters. I'm going to have to type a lot and you better listen…er, read. For starters, the rangers are selected by the Sevii Seven – the Island Leaders, pretty much Sevii's equivalent to Gym Leaders. And right now, only five rangers. So your ranger will have to know at least one of the Island Leaders, corresponding to their color and all of that stuff. The current Sevii Seven are, in order, Serena Tsukuyomi, Raye Volten, Oliver Ashford, Rhine Yukiton, Sean Dylan, Aiden Huang, and Lily Delphi. Serena and Lily are both out of the picture, Lily because, well, you already know, and Serena…well, you'll see. Hah.

Now, a little backstory might be helpful for these nutcases (and yes, that's a good thing). Most of them were born and raised in Sevii (Aiden is the exception, but meh). The only ones with any relatives set in stone are Rhine and Aiden. Aiden has one older sister and that's it. Rhine also has an older sister – Lorelei. They're fairly young for the Sevii Seven – Serena is thirteen, Raye nineteen, Oliver twenty-six, Rhine fourteen, Sean twenty, Aiden nineteen, and Lily twenty-eight, so keep that in mind.

Yeah, I think that's more or less everything. And I still haven't thought of what the morphers should be, just their power source. Bleh.

Name:

Age:

Gender:

Color/Pokémon: (you get to choose between Red Charizard, Blue Gyarados, Green Victreebel, Yellow Raichu, and Cyan Dewgong. Yes. Cyan. Not White, for reasons that will be explained later. The corresponding Leaders are Aiden, Sean, Oliver, Raye, and Rhine)

Appearance: (be specific people. That includes clothes. If you don't want to have them always wear the same clothes, then say what style clothes)

Personality:

Pokémon:

Relation to Sevii Seven: (as in, which one(s), how did they meet, etc. Siblings and family and all that are fine too, unless specified otherwise)

Anything else: (this is where you go nuts and throw in something. Or else I will, and it will probably involve explosions)

---


	2. Secrets of Sevii Part 1

---

A/N: I don't like this either, but there needs to be a disclaimer and I kind of forgot it last episode/chapter/prologue. Sad, isn't it? On the bright side, I'm not going to be posting this again.

Disclaimer: I am not rich, therefore I don't own Pokémon or Power Rangers. Yankee Blaze has the Poké Rangers concept, and any characters not specified in either canon are created by Psyduck Ranger, Yankee Blaze, 0Mimi-Chan0, Digimon Lantern 1, Cure Black2000, or me.

---

_To Whom It May Concern: _

_Aislynn and Aine tell me it's time. Lady Abbadon is stirring and so we must be ready and all of that stuff. Enclosed, unless you are Lily (sorry Lily!), is a morpher. Give it to someone you trust, and someone who will fight. And you had better be sure they will._

_On Monday, which should be three days after you read this, the morphers will teleport themselves and whomever is wearing them to Treasure Beach. I'd warn whomever's using it if I were you. Unless you feel like scaring them out of their wits, which is all good too._

_One final note: if you trust no one enough to give them it, then please do not. Leave it unopened, and send it back. And don't keep it for yourself either – it's way too obvious. All of this seriousness is starting to depress me, so this is it. Jin, Tianshi, Lu and I shall be there at Treasure Beach. _

_Cheers, Serena_

---

Raye Volten, the Island Leader of Two Island, reread the letter carefully for the fifth time. It was undoubtedly Serena, given the neat, blue-ink handwriting, the way it looked like it'd come off a copy machine, and the general strange context. She'd received it taped to a small box labeled "Three Island," for some reason. It was apparently the morpher.

The problem was who to give it to…

For ideas, Raye dug her cell phone out of a pocket, and flipped it open. She opened the contact list. It was rather short and pathetic, but that was fine. In alphabetical order, she scanned the list.

_Alicia Joy, Brinca Roushi, Daniel Gardner…_

She smiled. Bingo.

---

"Zoey!" Oliver barged into his younger sister's room, very loudly and rudely if Zoey had anything to say about it.

"What?" Zoey snapped, quickly hiding whatever she was working on under her math textbook.

Oliver ignored it. "Wait, you're doing your _math homework_? On a _Friday_? I refuse to be related to you."

She blushed slightly, glaring at him. "Shut up. Say what you came to say or get out."

"Okay, okay. Look, I got a present for you, and no, it's not a bribe or something slimy." He waved a small box in his hand in the air. "See?"

"Pompous bighead?"

"Yeah?"

"Why does it say Two Island on it?"

"It does?" Oliver pulled it down from midair and squinted at it. "Hey, it does. Whatever. Here you go, and keep it on, kay?"

"Whatever," Zoey sighed. "Just give it here and go back to your apartment already."

"Aye-aye, Madame PMS."

"Don't call me that or I'll kick you where the sun doesn't shine."

"…I'm going, I'm going!" Oliver practically ran out the room and down the stairs, though he managed to slam the door as he ran by.

Zoey smiled. Oliver was so easy to tease, eight years older or not. She glanced at the box he'd left on the desk and shrugged. She'd open it later…

---

Rhine Yukiton of Four Island turned over the box in her hands for what was probably the hundredth time in the last ten minutes. She had absolutely no idea who she would trust to fight.

Of course, maybe this was her fault. After all, she didn't exactly know a lot of people…

"Okay, this is not going to work," she said out loud, putting it down on the table. Rhine picked up the letter again, rereading it. Her attention was caught by the last paragraph – "_leave it unopened, and send it back to me._"

That she could do. Rhine reached for a pen.

---

The mail arrived on Saturday morning. Serena often slept till noon on Saturdays, and this was no exception. Her sister, however, did not.

"What's this?" Rachel brushed back a strand of brown hair, examining the address on the box. In simple, black pen, it said "Serena Tsukuyomi, One Island." Actually, that was pretty much all the sender needed, since Serena Tsukuyomi wasn't exactly a common name. There was also no postmark, so it was probably sent by a bird Pokémon or something.

Rachel shrugged and scooped it up along with the rest of the mail. Serena wouldn't mind if she _looked_, right? Besides, Rachel did kind of owe her little sister for the way Jin had scared Munchlax out of his wits…

Making up her mind, Rachel opened the box, though she did struggle with the tape for a minute. Throwing it aside, annoyed, she drew out a very _expensive_-looking, cyan Pokétch. If she remembered correctly, Pokétches were from Sinnoh, which was _way_ to the north and a real pain to import.

"Whoa." Who the hell sent her little sister _this_? Rachel picked it up by the wristband and walked into the hallway, aimed straight for Serena's room.

Shouting ensued. Partly from Serena being woken up four hours before normal, partly because Rachel had, as Serena put it, "been an annoying snoop."

Then some explaining. A lot of explaining.

---

Surfing was the awesomest way to start a day.

Five Island was home to many monster waves, and they could be reached just by walking out the door and down to the beach, so that was what Jun did in the mornings.

But Jun wasn't the one who was always out way too early in the morning. He had the decency to sleep until eight at the least. Not Sean, annoying-cousin-of-his, and the Island Leader of Five Island.

Speaking of Sean, for once he hadn't jumped straight into the water and practically sprouted fins and gills. Instead, he was waiting on the beach, board planted in the sand and eating a corn dog. Sean spotted him and waved him over, brandishing the stick.

"Hey, Jun. Got something for you." He indicated a bag beside him, which his Octillery sprawled over like some crazy guard. "Only you get to get Kraken off."

"Whatever. Any chicks or is it too early?"

"Dude, it's not nine on a Saturday morning. They'll show up. Now sit down and shut up or go surf."

"I'll go with option B. See ya, loser."

"Right back at you, dork."

---

Guinevere Joy drummed her fingers on the counter of Six Island's Pokémon Center and wished the stupid note had been more specific.

Aiden had been very distracted during the sparring sessions, which was kind of interesting because then Chansey went and Metronomed all over Autumn. It had been especially interesting when she used Attract by accident. Not that Autumn went and fell in love with Chansey, though that would have been _very_ funny.

Meh. Couldn't have everything.

So anyway, then she stomped over and demanded to know why he was being so distracted, and if he was trying to lose on purpose to make her feel superior or something stupid, and if he was to prepare for some major pain.

He'd handed her a box with an envelope attached and went off on Sulfur, the annoying not-so-little Charizard, saying something about fate being a certain seven-letter word that began with A and ended with E.

She had no idea why he'd said that, but shrugged it off. The little shrimp was strange. Sometimes she agreed with his more cryptic statements, but this was not one of them (yet).

In any case, she had no idea when the annoying morpher – if it _was_ a morpher, it just looked like a red Pokétch – on her wrist was supposed to go and teleport her off to Treasure Beach, or even if it wasn't an elaborate hoax.

Joy – as most people called her – glanced at the clock for maybe the fifth time in the last ten minutes. 10:08 AM.

And right then, a swirl of red light burst forth from the morpher, surrounding her. When it was faded, she was gone.

Chansey toddled forward from behind the counter, and slid the doors shut.

---

Serena had left Rachel behind on the grounds that "this way we can claim not to be related." Which meant that she arrived alone.

Serena was sitting on a little shelf of stone, her Pokémon gathered around her. Jin, her Persian, purred reassuringly by her side, and Lu, her Stantler sat on her other side. Tianshi, her Togetic, was hovering in midair behind them, watching curiously.

It began with five pinpricks of colored lights that swiftly grew larger and brighter. They were in five colors – crimson, azure, emerald, gold, and cyan. They all solidified into teenagers – okay, maybe older – each with a Pokétch the same color of the swirl of light.

From the red one was, of all people, a Nurse Joy. She looked slightly annoyed, slightly angry, and otherwise just like all of her family when on duty.

The blue was a boy with black hair, brown eyes, and tanned skin. He was dressed more casually than the Joy, in a blue tank-top, black jeans, and silver-and-blue shoes. Maybe a headband, but it was black and therefore blended into his hair.

The green swirl became a boy with long brown hair in a Pokémon Ranger's uniform, all orange and black with the distinctive white-and-gold sign on the shoulder. He also had a stylus, which meant he was probably imported from Fiore or something. Interesting choice.

The gold light was a girl, with light blue hair pulled into two buns on either side of her head, and purple eyes. She wore a yellow jacket over a white shirt, a yellow miniskirt over black pants, and white sneakers.

And of course, the last of them was Rachel, her annoying sister. She looked just the same as she always did, with her wavy brown hair. Outfit-of-the-day was a white spaghetti-strap top over short blue shorts and white sandals.

(A/N: I just broke one of my own rules and shoved a giant block of description in here. Sadsad. I'm gonna be doing that a lot too. More sadsad.)

It was the girl with blue hair who spoke first. "What the hell is going on?" she demanded.

Serena glanced at the morpher. "You're Raye's?"

"…No."

"You have the yellow one. If you're not Raye's, whose are you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about. My annoying brother gave me this Pokétch, not 'Raye.'"

"Hmm. And you are…?"

"Zoey Ashford."

"Oh. You're Oliver's. So…" Serena eyed the one in the Pokémon Ranger outfit with the green Pokétch. "_You're_ Raye's."

"Uh…yes…?"

"Hmm. Must have mixed them up or something. Whatever." Serena got to her feet, dusting off her skirt. "Come inside and then we can do introductions."

"Hold on," the Joy interrupted. "What do you mean, inside, and why are we being bossed around by a thirteen-year-old who we don't even know?"

"Oh, yes, there is that. For your second question, my name is Serena Tsukuyomi, Island Leader of One Island, specialist in Normal-types." She deliberately skipped over the fact that at least one of them did know her, and continued, "As for inside…" Serena shrugged and turned to the rock wall. "Aislynn, Aine, open up already."

A rumbling noise filled the air and almost startled Rachel into falling over, which Serena found interesting. Jin got to her paws, stretching lazily, and Tianshi settled on Serena's shoulder. Lu clopped ahead, disappearing into the rock illusion amid gasps.

"Follow him," Serena told them, jamming her hands into her jacket's pockets.

---

They gaped.

Well, Rachel did, anyway, and she was sure about that. The other four were gaping too. Serena was seemingly unimpressed. Rachel scowled and made a mental note to demand what _else_ she'd been keeping secret. Or had she already done that? Rachel couldn't remember.

Didn't matter.

"Well, hurry up," Serena said irritably, being stuck at the back of the group. They moved forward and the metal wall went clanking back up as Serena stepped out of the way. It sealed them all into a cavern of darkness, which suddenly lit up with the blaze of white light.

"Warriors, welcome," two voices said at the same time. Rachel nearly had a heart attack. Everything was _way_ too overly dramatic. She turned around to see two girls gazing at them serenely, with extremely dark skin that contrasted with their pure white robes, except for the black sashes. Their hair was the same white, long and wavy, very similar to Rachel's own. If it wasn't for the intensely red eyes, Rachel would have thought they'd stepped out of an old black-and-white video or something.

"…Who are you?" the Joy asked.

"I am Aislynn," said one.

"And I am Aine." The other answered.

"Aislynn-or-Aine works for both of them," Serena offered in a disinterested tone.

"That's too long," offered the boy with black hair. "I say Ai."

Aislynn and Aine exchanged mildly confused glances. "As you wish…who are you five?"

"Guinevere Joy," the Joy answered.

"Jun Shimatori," the black-haired boy said.

"I'm Daniel Gardner," the boy in the Pokémon Ranger uniform offered.

"Zoey Ashford," the girl with the blue hair said.

"…Rachel Tsukuyomi."

"Didn't the annoying midget say her name was Serena Tsukuyomi?" Zoey asked.

Serena glared at her. "For one thing, the 'annoying little midget' is standing right here. For another, _I'm_ the Island Leader here, and I wasn't chosen for my height," she seethed.

"More like lack of," Zoey shot back, arms crossed.

"Whoa, hey!" Daniel tried to interrupt their glare-fest, and Rachel admired him for it. Getting in the way of her sister was the equivalent of jumping into a nest of venomous Ekans. The only antidote was being related (to a certain extent – second cousin and up), being friends, or being useful.

Apparently he fell into the last category, because Rachel could think of no way he could fit into the first two and Serena shot him and Zoey a parting glare. Joy spoke up then. "I have a question. You said you're Serena Tsukuyomi? Why did you have to write such an annoyingly vague letter?"

"And you didn't ask this earlier why?"

"You _were_ dragging us here. Stop dancing around the question."

"Because they get to explain it to you and I'm considering providing snide comments," Serena answered.

Aislynn and Aine, forgotten until then, spoke up. Rachel couldn't tell which was speaking, which was kind of irrelevant as they were seamlessly finishing each other's sentences.

(A/N: For convenience's sake, I'm putting this all in one blurb. Many long speeches these two make will be in one blurb, as a heads-up. What can I say, I'm lazy.)

"We are sure you have questions, and they will be answered. Please do not interrupt. For the time being, all you must know is that there are two forces who have fought millennia ago, in these very islands you humans call Sevii. They were Eden and Abbadon, Paradise and Destruction. Polar opposites in every way, Lady Eden managed to seal Lady Abbadon's spirit away and destroy her body. All of Lady Eden's forces fell, and almost all of Lady Abbadon's, except the warrior Lantis, who was thought to be destroyed in the sea by Seven Island. Eden then created this hollow and the two of us, and sealed herself away to gather her strength for the final battle. The time is near now."

"And this has to do with us how?" Joy asked.

"Lady Abbadon's forces are destructive. They are to wait here, in the Sevii chain, until Lady Abbadon launches her attack against Lady Eden. We were created to safeguard the humans here from destruction – more specifically, to bring the guardians _into_ existence. Though the Rangers are not a traditional part of the battle, Serena insisted on it. You five have been chosen through the Sevii Seven."

One of them pointed to Rachel. "You have the morpher of Four Island, powered by Floe Island's heartstone. Four Island has always been linked most closely to the ice, despite being here in the hot south. You are to become the Cyan Dewgong Ranger."

The other to Zoey. "You have the morpher that was meant for Two Island, powered by Boon Island's heartstone. Two Island is closest to electricity, energy that drives humans to create and gives them strength. You are to be the Yellow Raichu Ranger."

Daniel, now. "Your morpher was for Three Island, powered by the heartstone of Kin Island. Three Island houses the Berry Forest, one of the richest examples of flourishing plant life in the Sevii chain. You will be the Green Victreebel Ranger."

Jun. "For Five Island, your morpher contains the heartstone of Chrono Island. Five Island draws its life from the sea, back to the time when it was only a fishing outpost where humans gathered. You will become the Blue Gyarados Ranger."

And finally, to Joy. "And Six Island's warrior, your morpher holds the heartstone of Fortune Island. The southernmost island, in ancient times kings gathered their armies and fought for the rule of Sevii, carving Ruin Valley in their wake. There, the strongest souls were forged in the blaze of war. Your destiny is to be the Red Charizard Ranger."

They spoke at the same time. "Will you accept?"

What other answer was there to give? "Yes."

Aislynn and Aine nodded, then looked at Serena. "If you will take it from here?" one of them asked.

"We have to listen to the midget?" Zoey asked plaintively.

Serena ignored the "midget" crack, and either Aislynn or Aine explained, "Tsukuyomi-san designed the method to convert the heartstone's energy to be used for Rangers three years ago. We simply put it together."

Zoey blinked and decided not to say anything. Rachel was wondering exactly what kind of an annoying genius her sister was. All the details she knew, as of now, was that she'd been able to take senior year at One Island High, along with some of the college-level courses, with ease and that she could design Ranger morphers.

It was especially annoying considering that Rachel herself had to struggle through her own sophomore year of high school, but that was besides the point.

Serena shrugged. "Morphing is very simple. You say the words, "Sevii Metamorphosis" followed by your element and the number of the island. A bit long, but that's much less chance of you morphing accidentally. Nothing else is required. It will only work if you – or at least, someone with identical voice patterns – says the morph call, as you are the first ones to do so. Try it."

"Sure!" Jun Shimatori spoke up loudly. "Sevii Metamorphosis – Water Five!"

The Pokétch on his wrist glowed with vibrant, deep blue light, before bursting into a shower of blue, er, _sparkles_. A ghostly wind swept them up in a column, which glowed brightly with the same blue light before fading. A ranger stood there. His suit was simple, mainly deep blue, though the gloves and boots were white. The visor was a seven-pointed star, pitch black against the blue. At the edges of the gloves and boots, where white met blue, thick gold bands shone. Jun finished with the announcement of, "Blue Gyarados! This is so awesome!" Apparently he hadn't noticed the sparkles.

"Very showy," Serena muttered. "The design had nothing to do with _this_."

"It is the influence of the heartstones," Aislynn or Aine said. "They have always been inclined towards…drama."

The other glanced at the rest of them. "Would you like to try?"

Four morph calls in answer.

"Sevii Metamorphosis – Fire Six!"

"Sevii Metamorphosis – Ice Four!"

"Sevii Metamorphosis – Grass Three!"

"Sevii Metamorphosis – Electric Two!"

The four bursts of light were so bright, Serena shielded her eyes. "Really going to have to fix that," she muttered. "Way too conspicuous."

The suits were pretty much the same as Jun's, except in their respective colors rather than blue (red for Joy, cyan for Rachel, green for Daniel, and yellow for Zoey). Zoey's and Rachel's also had a skirt.

"This is _awesome_," Jun announced again. "So, where's the monster to beat up?"

Serena sighed. "None now. It's training instead."

"…Training? In here?" he seemed less enthusiastic at that.

"You didn't seriously think you could just swing a stick and you'd be done? All sorts of things to be done. Weapons training, Pokémon attacks, your unique attacks, and later Zord piloting when they're built…" Serena rattled off, ignoring their groans. "Today, we'll start off with weapons training. Aislynn, Aine, which way's the training room again?"

The two white-haired girls exchanged glances, and one stepped forward. "Follow me, please. Aislynn will remain to guard the entrance."

"So…" Rachel began. "Do you two have a shorter name than Aislynn-or-Aine?"

"No."

"Could you think of one?" the green one – Daniel – asked.

"Yes."

"Will you think of one?" Rachel asked.

"No."

A period of silence as Aine led them through the twists and turns of the rock labyrinth. Then Zoey spoke up. "There's Ai."

"…I like it," Rachel offered. "You two're Ai now."

"…If you insist."

---

The wooden _clack_ of training weapons rang out, echoing in the cavern. Aislynn, seated before the entrance, listened with eyes closed. There had been a reason why there were so many caverns, besides to confuse the enemy – _sound_.

Sound was everything, for the two twins.

Two of Tsukuyomi-san's Pokémon, Lu and Tianshi, had remained behind as well, though Jin had slipped along in the shadows to guard her trainer. Aislynn decided it should be a good time as any now. Reaching out with her mind, she found the negative space among seven other auras that indicated Aine. _Are you ready?_

_Of course._ Aislynn closed her eyes, and the world around her was replaced with what Aine was seeing.

Tsukuyomi-san was a strict taskmaster, for one so young. All the Rangers had powered down, back to their normal forms. Two pairs of the Rangers – Red and Blue, Green and Yellow – were equipped with wooden staffs and drilling against each other in a pattern of blows, high, middle, low, high, middle, low. Tsukuyomi-san had paired up with the Cyan Ranger, who seemed to be more on equal footing. Like the others, they had wooden staffs and were drilling with the same pattern, probably as a demonstration. Unlike the other four, whose movements were still slow and cautious, theirs were quicker and sure. More likely than not that would be the result of their parents than anything else. Sparring with her sister did not seem to cow the thirteen-year-old, however – she was busy snapping at Green to stop flinching and Yellow to move quicker. Under her breath, Cyan was telling Blue to keep his guard up before Red missed and rapped him instead of the staff.

Aislynn and Aine watched the show for a while before Aine closed her eyes. _What do you think of them?_ Aine asked.

…_I believe they all have potential,_ Aislynn said slowly. _But they seem too young to fight._

A quiet laugh. _To us, all are young but the legends themselves, remember. And by human standards, they are almost grown_.

_Yes…I suppose…_

Aine changed the subject. _Do you know, they have decided that they will call us Ai._

_Ai? _

_Honestly, I do not know what to think._

_…I feel we will have to experience that feeling quite a bit, from now on, unfortunately._

---


	3. Secrets of Sevii Part 2

---

It had been about a week since they'd started training, and Zoey was finally starting to get the hang of the staff drills. Of course, they hadn't been training the whole week as all of them had things to do.

It wasn't that the drills were hard to do or anything, but Zoey kept getting a case of nerves, and often went _too_ fast, which resulted in her sparring partner (usually Daniel – Serena didn't really change them often) getting whacked instead of blocking it.

Oops.

It was in the middle of one of these sessions that Ai interrupted, the one not standing guard. Out of the corner of her eye, Zoey saw the white-clad girl move, silently and smoothly like a shadow, and she blocked Serena's staff with one hand and Rachel's with the other.

"What is it?" Serena asked, lowering her staff. The others did the same, now curious.

"There is a signal at Ruin Valley, Six Island. Aine says that there are monsters hunting for the strongest Pokémon there, who seem to be a new – or, rather, _ancient_ – variety of Unown. The Glyphs are back."

"Great," Serena sighed. "Rangers, go deal with them. According to the legends, they're wimps."

"What are Glyphs anyway?" Joy demanded.

"An ancient species of Unown which the first languages were based on," Serena shrugged. "In the legends, they served as Abbadon's agents of destruction, mostly through espionage and other things. Hurry up."

The five Rangers looked at each other and shrugged. "Sevii Metamorphosis!"

"Electric Two – Yellow Raichu!"

"Grass Three – Green Victreebel!"

"Ice Four – Cyan Dewgong!"

"Water Five – Blue Gyarados!"

"Fire Six – Red Charizard!"

Serena shielded her eyes. Much to her annoyance, she had not managed to deprogram the "annoyingly bright lights" because they were tied specifically to the heartstones and she couldn't take out the power source. Aislynn stepped forward, and pointed to the morphed Rangers. She spoke words in an old, guttural language, and white light spiraled forward from her fingertips to wrap around the five. It flared brightly, and both light and Rangers were gone.

---

Aislynn's teleportation spell or whatever it was had sent them to a place none of them recognized. It was a valley, with sheer rock walls in all directions. They were directly in front of two large, gleaming white pillars that alone seemed to have survived the hand of time. The rest of the valley was wild and overgrown, or barren rock. It would have been beautiful, if it hadn't been for the hordes of monsters.

They were sleek, black, and entirely strange. Many of them resembled what looked like the Greek alphabet, though still more seemed like Egyptian hieroglyphs, and even more looked like pictograms.

(A/N: Not a word about how there is no Greek, Egypt, etc. in the Pokémon world. I'm looking at you, Psyduck.)

"So…we just attack?" Rachel wondered out loud. Startlingly enough (to her) she received an answer.

"Yeah," Serena's voice told them, probably through some equipment that came with the suits. "They _are_ very weak. This might also be a good time to mention you have individual weapons."

"We do?! Then why did we have to do the staffs?" Zoey demanded.

"Implanted knowledge and reflexes are no substitution for experience," Serena snapped. "Thunder Daggers, Jungle Razors, Winter Halberd, Ocean Lance, and Magma Sword. You should be able to guess which weapon is which."

"Right. Winter Halberd!" A white light materialized in Rachel's hand, which lengthened to her other hand and solidified into a halberd. The staff was painted light blue, but the blade was a harsh silver-blue.

"Jungle Razors!" Instead of one, two lights appeared for Daniel. They became twin, rectangular knives with simple wooden hilts and wickedly sharp blades.

"Thunder Daggers!" Twin points of light materialized in front of Zoey, which changed into two daggers with gold hilts and bone-white blades. She grabbed them out of the air before they could fall.

"Ocean Lance!" Like Rachel's, Jun's weapon was a long staff attached to a sharp, metal blade. Instead of being shaped vaguely like an axe, it was long and pointed, and the staff was deep blue rather than light blue.

"Magma Sword!" Joy's weapon was, obviously enough, a sword. It was longer than her forearm, and gleamed brightly. The hilt was copper and gold, arranged in eye-catching, dazzling patterns that were, unfortunately, mostly covered by her hand. She continued, "Flamethrower!" Joy thrust out the sword, which had begun to glow red-hot. A stream of fire materialized out of nowhere, blazing through a group of Glyphs. It was hot enough to thoroughly roast the ones it hit – which, unfortunately, were only about half of the group.

Serena sighed unhappily. "Going to have to work on the accuracy."

"How are you watching this anyway?" Rachel asked, swinging the Winter Halberd horizontally to slice through a group of Glyphs. They collapsed like paper, and she jumped forward to stomp on them for good measure.

"Video in the visors," Serena said off-handedly. "Most of it hooked up to the main console."

"There's a main console?" Zoey asked, running through a Glyph with both her daggers. She pulled them both out seamlessly and turned to knee another Glyph, sending its extremely light, probably hollow, body up into the air. She didn't bother waiting for it to land, instead whirling to unleash a Shock Wave on yet another group.

"Duh. You know, this is better than a movie."

"Except with no explosions," Daniel grumbled, thrusting one Jungle Razor into a Glyph as he snapped out a sidekick at another. Then he had to try and tug the razor back out of the Glyph.

"_Definitely_ no substitute for experience," Serena sighed, obviously referring to Daniel's little problem. "What, you like explosions? Just blast it off your weapon with an attack or something."

Jun had to duck the Bullet Seed, which tore through the Glyph easily, and rocketed over his head to slam into another Glyph. "Watch it!" he called, thrusting his lance through another Glyph. He twirled it, slashing its way out of the Glyph. "How many of these things are there, anyway?"

"You have about ten left," Serena said.

Joy landed on the ground, and a loud and bright explosion drew everyone's attention to her. She turned to survey her work and nodded. "I'm done."

"She gets explosions and I don't?" Daniel complained, unleashing a swarm of Razor Leaves to slice through some more Glyphs.

Then a rhythmic _thump-clank_ sounded out, effectively freezing the remaining Glyphs (only three) in their tracks. All eyes were on the source of the sound – a tall Gardevoir, almost six feet tall, was mounted on a muscular Rapidash at the top of the major ruin. The Gardevoir had black rather than green hair, and the red plates that usually thrust out from a Gardevoir's chest were gone. In addition to a long, white and hooded cloak (currently with the hood off), she wore chain mail, shoulder-guards, and a metal plate skirt that reached to her knees over the cloth dress of most Gardevoir. Her weapons were a sword and shield. They were both rather simple, the shield painted jet-black with a gold circle in the center. The sword was longer than Joy's, though more slender than most. The edge looked sharp enough.

The Gardevoir smiled down at them. "Hello, Rangers. My name is Ladynight, and this is Valor," obvious meaning the Rapidash.

"Ladynight…under Abbadon, by any chance?" Zoey asked.

"Oh, very _good_, Yellow. I'm one of the three generals. I came to congratulate you."

"_Congratulate_ us?! On what?"

"Yeah, Red, congratulate. On beating up the Glyphs, obviously, though they _are_ wimps. Lantis and Lusion-X are so _stuffy_. A girl needs some fun, y'know. But Abbadon said I can't play with you yet," she sighed dramatically. "So you'll have to settle for a playmate, hmm?" Ladynight raised her sword in the air and fired off a burst of vibrant, electric blue Psychic energy. "Come to me, Erebus!"

In answer to her call, the sky darkened swiftly. Gray storm clouds materialized out of nowhere, swirling faster and faster clockwise. They seemed to drop out of the sky, touching down right between the two unscathed pillars. Then they retreated, leaving in their place what looked like a cross between Sableye and Sneasel, except for the fact it stood five feet high, hunched over. Its body was primarily a Sableye's, except its skin was black and the eye-gems were bright red. Its claws were also much more pronounced than a Sableye's, white and viciously curved.

Ladynight peered down. "Be a dear and play with the Rangers, yes Erebus?"

"As you wish," the monster said in a grating voice, making what was probably supposed to be a bow. It then launched towards the closest ranger – Rachel – who yelped and swung the Winter Halberd at it. Erebus blocked the blade with the claws on his forepaws, then grasped the staff and kicked at Rachel with both feet.

Ladynight smiled at them, waving. "Ta-ta, Rangers. Play nice, now!" she laughed, guiding Valor towards a spiraling purple-and-black disc of energy that hadn't been there a moment ago. Knight and horse stepped through, and were gone.

The Rangers had better things to worry about than her, though. Right now, Erebus was the main problem – it was just too fast and agile. The monster nimbly vaulted out of reach of almost all weapons, causing the long-range ones to keep going and sometimes hit the others ("Rachel, watch where you aim that Ice Beam!" "Sor-ZOEY I AM NOT A LIGHTNING ROD!"). Needless to say, it did not make any of the Rangers happy.

Finally, Serena said, "Rangers, back off. Zoey, you deal with it."

"_What?!_" Serena couldn't identify all the incredulous voices or the number, but she was willing to bet at least Zoey was among them.

"As the Yellow Raichu, you are the fastest and most nimble, and best suited to deal with Erebus. His strength is in his speed and agility, not in his attacking nor defense. If the rest of you attempt to help, you'll just get into each other's way. Try to set traps if you can, but leave the main battle to Zoey." When they still hesitated, Serena snapped, "Do it!"

Four of the Rangers moved back reluctantly, and Zoey launched forward. She latched onto Erebus with one hand, tightening her arm around his shoulders as she tried to stab him with the Thunder Dagger in her other hand. Erebus clawed at her desperately, but his claws were apparently not sharp enough to tear through her suit.

Zoey pulled him backwards, landing on her back with a jarring _thud_. Despite that, she released him and kicked him into the air, where he flailed wildly, shooting off Icy Winds in many directions, which all went wild and missed. Zoey pointed both Daggers at the Sneasel-Sableye. "Thunder!"

From the clear sky, a jagged, bright white-gold finger of electricity darted down to strike Erebus, and the monster had enough time to scream in pain before his body disintegrated into ash.

---

"That was too easy," Serena muttered, tapping her fingers on the computer console. It displayed different viewpoints of the Ruin Valley currently, through which she could watch the battle and the surroundings.

"Speak for yourself," Zoey grunted, struggling to her feet. Daniel got there first and helped her up.

---

Ladynight had been watching the fight through what looked suspiciously like a crystal ball crossed with a TV. She sighed and turned in her chair. "Lusion!" the Gardevoir called. "Erebus failed. I want to see the Zords."

A groan, and a telepathic voice, which was how Lusion-X always talked. _Fine. Give me a moment_.

Ladynight turned her attention back to the screen, which displayed the remains of Erebus. They began to slowly reassemble, then faster, and grew, blazing with green light. "You're such a dear, Lusion," she called, grinning.

---

"Uh, Serena…"

"Yeah, yeah," Serena muttered. "I'll send the Zords now." She picked a set of goggles off of the wall and slipped them on. They activated, glowing with green light and she began swiftly typing instructions to the computer, watching them being etched in data and binary code with neon green light and carried out. "Stall for a minute, the Zords are too big to teleport," she instructed them.

"Oh, that's wonderful," Joy said sarcastically. "I just live to – DUCK!"

Apparently, Erebus's new status as a giant monster had given it more power too. He didn't bother to cry out his attacks, just did it because he could. A Blizzard had shown up, thick and cold. Gathered into a block maybe five feet wide by five feet tall, it raced towards the Rangers. All of them managed to get out of the way, barely. "Holy mother of Mew! Can't you hurry it up?" Joy demanded.

"Do I look like Palkia or something?" Serena asked sharply. "They'll get there when they get there!"

"Hey, they're here!" Rachel interrupted, pointing at the sky. "Or at least…I think the Charizard's here…"

"The other ones can't fly, so they have to either climb up the valley walls and then back down or go around," Serena explained off-handedly. "So we built another one, and it's carrying them, but it's much slower than the Charizard Zord."

"Well, that's convenient," Zoey muttered.

Jun complained more loudly. "Aw, come on! I want giant-robot-time!"

"Oh, just shut up, you'd have to go 'slidey-slidey-slidey' all over the place anyway," Serena sighed. "Same with the Dewgong Zord."

In the meantime, Joy had ignored them all and stared at the Charizard Zord, which had landed in front of her to block Erebus's attacks. "So where do I get in?" she asked finally.

"Oh, right," Serena said. "Just jump. The Charizard Zord is tied to your suit and all that, so it should bring you up there with all the _shiny buttons_," she said, voice dripping with sarcasm for the last couple of words. Joy ignored her (again) and did so, landing lightly on the head of the Charizard Zord. A panel slid out of the way between its eyes, and she walked through. A couple of seconds later, the Charizard Zord turned to face Erebus, and if it hadn't been a giant robot that couldn't show emotion, one could have sworn it was grinning. Joy's voice called, "You were lying, Serena. There are no 'shiny buttons.'"

"Just singular," Serena agreed. "The 'oh-sweet-Mew-that-thing's-gonna-destroy-my-Zord-I'm-running-right-now' button. Or 'evacuate' for short."

"That's no fair," Jun complained. "How're we supposed to move them?"

"Well, Joy just did," Serena pointed out. "Physical motion or verbal commands. Of course, with most of the Zords you'll have to use verbal commands since the structure is completely different from a human's. It'll be like a Pokémon battle, only you're in the Pokémon, your opponent is a monster, and you're both gigantic."

"Gee, that's nice," Joy muttered. "Flamethrower!" The Zord belched a gigantic fire from its maw, which spiraled swiftly towards Erebus. Erebus, though, leapt out of the way as he always did. Audible cursing.

"I could make some comment about me still being thirteen, but I don't feel like it," Serena commented. "If you can hold him off, you could theoretically still leave it to the Raichu Zord when it gets here."

"How will it get here, though? Can the Zords swim?" Zoey asked.

"Gyarados and Dewgong, yes. Raichu and Victreebel…well, we had to build another one, like I said," Serena sighed. "They've pretty much all hitched a ride. You'll see."

"I think I see them," Daniel reported. "Over there." He pointed in the general direction the Charizard Zord had come from. This time, it was much, much larger than the Charizard Zord had been – wider, taller, and longer. A Dragonair.

"Why is it a Dragonair?" Rachel asked.

"Because they can fly and dive. Move out of the way, it needs somewhere to land."

The Rangers did so, dodging the stray Flamethrower/Ice Beam/Dark Pulse with much annoyance ("Joy! Watch where you're pointing that thing!"). The Dragonair whatever-it-was landed safely, coiling up to reduce the room it needed. Its mouth opened impossibly wide, and it belched up four Zords ("EEW!" "Disturbing." "Not cool." "Why do you think I didn't like it?" "At least there's no spit on them."). The Rangers climbed in.

---

Serena, manning the main console, began pulling up summaries on each of the Zords, fingers gliding swiftly across the keyboard. "Zords at one hundred percent and rising," she reported. "Each Zord has a specialty in battle, the same as each of yours, do you understand? Charizard, elemental strength. Gyarados, physical attack. Victreebel, long-range attacks are best. Raichu, speed. Dewgong, multiple attacks at once."

"Anything else we should know?" Joy asked. "Get out of the way!" she commanded her Zord, which leapt into flight to avoid a Dark Pulse.

"Nothing as of yet, except the Sevii Megazord's weapon is not yet completed. There's always improvisation, but I don't recommend it. Readout at one hundred fifty percent. Who's charging? Fire already, before it blow up your Zord."

"Yes ma'am!" The Victreebel Zord fired out a Solarbeam. Serena did not pay attention to the video feed of the rainbow-white beam hitting an unaware Erebus, only to the digital readouts. The energy level spiraled back down to one hundred percent and stabilized. "All Zords at optimum efficiency."

"Back to you, Zoey?" Joy asked.

"Of course."

---

Ladynight sighed, watching her monster getting taken down by the exact same strategy for the second time. "Lusion, your spirits are _stupid_," she called.

_…Shut up._

Ladynight snickered and got up. She'd seen all she wanted to. The Rangers had strength, but Erebus was among their weakest allies. She'd seen them in morph, in action, and in the Zords. It had been a good day, and the only price paid was one of their weakest.

"This will be interesting," she said out loud.

---

A/N: Okay, so neither of these were very long, but I have a very short attention span. Meh. Don't expect them to get longer, expect me to start updating less frequently and run away when I do.

---


	4. Static Shock

--

Every morning, Daniel Gardner woke up in an apartment paid for by the Pokémon Rangers of Fiore to an otherwise spotlessly clean room and a Mareep hell-bent on figuring out how to shock people through his cell phone.

Of course, Ohm never did so Daniel decided to not say anything about it after he snatched his phone back and put it back in its proper place (in his pocket). Except for that one time he wondered out loud if Ohm never slept and Ohm looked like he wanted to slap him. After that, Daniel had went out and bought rubber-soled boots and gloves designed specifically for people who dealt with angered electric Pokémon. They wouldn't ward off a full, aimed-to-kill attack, but it was still better than nothing. Though why that comment had annoyed Ohm, he couldn't figure out. After all, he was a Ranger, not a psychologist for spastically violent Mareeps.

Moving on.

His next routine involved checking to see if Ohm had destroyed anything else, going to get breakfast, and then cleaning the apartment if it was a Sunday. For breakfast, it was usually cereal for Daniel. In Ohm's case, he simply went wandering around looking for edible plants. Or he made a beeline straight to Raye's house, if he was feeling lazy. Daniel usually headed there anyway, as he had nothing to do.

That was what he did today. Ohm was waiting at the door, looking bored. Apparently he had at least _tried_ to destroy something and Raye had kicked him out. Or Arashi, if the Raichu was especially angry at him.

"What d'you do this time?" Daniel asked Ohm. The Mareep huffed and ignored him. Daniel shrugged and rang the doorbell. Then the doorknob turned slowly, and a _thump_ sounded out as a Raichu landed back on the floor, having jumped on the doorknob to open it. "Hi Arashi," Daniel greeted her.

"Rai," the Raichu responded disinterested. "Rai rai churai? Rai." She turned around and walked off, Daniel and Ohm following after Daniel relocked the door. Ohm didn't go quietly, muttering angrily under his breath in a series of "reeeeps" which probably weren't anything good about Arashi.

Finally they arrived at the battle arena, which was in the way back of the house. It was actually more of a tent in the backyard, except this tent was reinforced with many precautions an ordinary tent would never have. It wasn't a camping tent either – it was one of those giant, floppy things, a giant mass of insanely clean white and gold fabric. Arashi and Ohm squeezed in under the edge of the "walls," but Daniel had to actually use the door.

Inside, Raye was having target practice with Hikari and Raiden. The Lanturn and Jolteon, respectively, were taking turns aiming their Thunders and laughing at the other if they missed. Arashi mumbled something under her breath, which was probably along the lines of "stupid Volt Absorbers."

Raye noticed him just as a Thunder smashed into Hikari, who laughed and clapped like a Seel. Of course, the Thunder was loud so she had to wait before she could say anything. "Hey, Daniel. When'd you get here?"

"Not very long," Daniel shrugged. "What'd Ohm do?"

Raye grinned. "Tried to pull off a Thunder on Arashi. She didn't take it very well."

Daniel glanced back at a smug-looking Arashi and a very annoyed Ohm. "No kidding. Why aren't you sparring by now?"

"Well, the last challenger yesterday wiped us out," Raye sighed. Arashi grimaced, Hikari's Thunder went very wide, and Raiden ignored them. "Had a wicked Flareon, and the Misdreavus was _killer_."

"Anyone we know?"

"Nah, I don't think so. Said her name was…Elle Subaru. Yeah, that was it." Raye shrugged. "Wanna join in?"

"I think Ohm does," Daniel sighed. Arashi and Ohm were glaring, pushed face-against-face, trying to intimidate the other into backing down. It was actually an interesting picture, given the difference in the two's heights. Ohm was trying to minimize that difference by standing on his hind paws like Arashi did, but he wasn't having much success at it.

--

"I'm _bored_!" Ladynight stomped through the halls of the Tanoby Ruin hideout, her aura of rage practically palpable in the air. "Why is there nothing to _do_ around here?! Ugh!"

"Whining again?" a cool voice asked. Ladynight stopped in her tracks to glare at the Kabutops leaning in one of the stone entranceways. He was taller – about six feet – than most Kabutops, but otherwise his build was normal. His armor was dented and scratched from many battles, all of which he had survived. Some of it was also decorated with luminous blue-green material, though much of it had been scraped off over time.

"Shut up, Lantis," Ladynight snapped at him. "Don't tell me you aren't bored just sleeping and waiting all day. Oh, wait. That's what you've been doing for the last _hundreds of years_!"

Lantis shifted into a battle crouch, scythes gleaming. "Do not forget your place, Ladynight. Simply because you have power as a general now, do not forget that you are still one of the newest to join."

"Yeah, and that's pathetic," Ladynight jeered. "It just proves how much you all need help!"

"Would you like to test me?" his voice was cold, tightly controlled, and very, very angry.

"Meet you on the training ground," she grinned, and with an irritating wave, Teleported off, presumably to get her sword and shield before heading off to the training ground.

Lantis hissed in annoyance, then stalked off towards the training ground. He passed an open doorway on the way. A psychic presence asked him, _Arguing again?_

"She is annoying," he growled, stopping. "How do you deal with her?"

_Easily_, Lusion-X's voice answered. _But in your case, it might be best to avoid her._

That did it. "I am _not_ avoiding some annoying upstart who thinks she can do anything!" he snarled, and was gone almost before the last sound faded.

Lusion-X sighed mentally. It was unfortunate that the other two generals simply could not get along.

--

"Ready?" Ladynight asked Lantis, smiling. Her sword and shield were in her hands, the sword in her right and the shield her left.

"Of course," he slid into a battle stance, blades raised.

"Go!" They charged, Ladynight sidestepping as Lantis's blade swung directly at her. Unfortunately for him, it was a vertical strike she dodged easily. He lashed out with one clawed foot before slicing again.

Ladynight's shield met Lantis's scythe with a jarring _thud_ and a ringing _clang_ as it bounced off. She rammed it forward, catching him off-guard. The Kabutops somersaulted backwards, landing easily on his feet. Neither looked even winded.

Ladynight smiled. "Now _this_ is fun," she grinned, charging again. Lantis blocked all her swipes easily, and she his counterattacks. Ladynight, starting to get bored, suddenly changed her attack pattern and dipped under his guard and smashed the flat of her sword into his right shoulder. He grunted and sliced with his left arm, which hit her shield and glanced off. The second scythe stopped a millimeter from her neck, exactly when she had brought her sword up to one of the chinks in his armor, right in his neck. They froze for a moment, blades ready to kill, before each lowered their weapon slowly.

Ladynight sighed, disappointed. "Tie."

Another monster sitting on the sidelines spoke up. "It's all very well that you've been battling and all that, but Lusion-X says that if you keep going at it and try to kill each other, I have to intervene," she sighed unhappily.

Both fighters glanced at the newcomer. She was shorter than both of them, maybe five feet tall, and dressed in a long, deep purple robe with frayed sleeves and hem that covered her entire body. She was not exactly sitting on the sidelines, but hovering over them with at least a good six inches between the end of her dress and the floor. Three oval stones were arrayed as a belt around her waist, glittering coldly scarlet. She also wore a giant purple hat that covered her dark blue hair, and threw her face into shadow.

"Charm, be a dear and tell Lusion we're not killing each other yet," Ladynight informed her. "We'll get around to it afterwards, maybe."

"That's good, because Lusion-X has an idea he needs at least one of you to help with," Charm Hexon, Lusion-X's second-in-command, said. "He says, 'When the two of them are done hitting each other with sharp edges, send one of them to me.'"

Lantis and Ladynight exchanged glances. Ladynight shrugged. "I'll go. The Rangers could do with thinking there are less of us than there actually is to lower their guard."

"…Right." Charm turned, evidently deciding following Ladynight's run-on sentence was not worth her time. Ladynight slid her sword back in its sheath before picking both up and following Charm out.

--

"Huh…If I didn't know better, Lusion, I wouldn't have thought you could have done this on your own," Ladynight smirked at Lusion-X.

The third general was a Xatu, figure warped to humanoid as well. He was not as tall as Lantis or Ladynight, but still exuded an equally menacing aura. However, the bright, tropical plumage of a normal Xatu was gone, replaced by dark blue, violet, and black. In addition, his wing-arms were tipped with sharp copper and steel points. He sighed mentally. _Will you or will you not do it?_

"Oh, sure, it sounds like fun. But you do realize you'll need to supply me with that spirit. You're the summoner, not me."

_I have already prepared it._ He held up one taloned hand, and a copper-colored ball of light materialized in his palm. Ladynight accepted it, sliding it into a pouch marked with a pentagram seal. She stood up, and grinned.

"If that's everything, I better get going. Bye, Lusion-X." She walked out the door, grinning. This would be _fun_.

--

In Daniel's opinion, the lunch break was the best part of the day.

The morning had consisted mainly of Arashi and Ohm insistently firing off Thunders to see who had the better aim and which one fainted first. Arashi won in both aspects, as her Thunders were more accurate and she had better stamina than Ohm. It was actually rather predictable, given that she was a well-trained battler and Ohm was a Mareep that enjoyed shocking people, then running to save his skin – er, fluffy wool.

Still, even Arashi had to admit that Ohm had plenty of determination. He kept struggling to his little stubby paws and either kept Thundering the by-now-bored Hikari…or he tried to attack Arashi. In which case she Mega Punched him into the other side of the tent.

He only tried that once, and that was when Daniel and Raye decided to take a break for lunch and take him to Two Island's Nurse Joy. She'd healed him up pretty quickly, and then Raye had decided to drag them off to a random fast food place and pay for lunch as a pretty bad apology for Arashi's "killer Mega Punch." Ohm had wandered off, not happy with Arashi at all, who promptly decided to steal all the fries.

Daniel was midway into his third cheeseburger when there was chaos.

Maybe it wasn't exactly the best part of the day.

--

Ohm had wandered off into the Two Island marketplace, mumbling under his breath in Mareep. He stomped along the streets, not particularly caring where he was going as long as it wasn't into a wall or off a cliff.

That was a mistake.

He didn't see the Gardevoir before it was too late. Ladynight had used an illusion, to make her appear normal, but her height was unaltered. She squatted down before Ohm ran straight into her and shoved her hand into his face, startling him into stopping. "Hello, little furball of a Mareep," she said cheerfully. Despite her disguise, she still spoke in plain English.

"Reeeep, mareep," Ohm snarled as fiercely as a Mareep could (which wasn't very).

"Oh, come now," Ladynight sighed. "We both know you couldn't kill me in another hundred years, at the _least_. Shut up and help me."

"Mareep reep."

"Hey! I'll have you know I am not _that_ much of a pompous psychic b-wait, that's not the point. If you won't help me of your own free will…" she lashed out with crimson psychic energy before he had time to run, helplessly levitating the Mareep up to her eye level, which was pretty high off the ground for the sheep. "Then I'll just do it the hard way."

She produced the pentagram-seal pouch out of seemingly nowhere, though she'd probably had it under the illusion. Undoing the tie, Ladynight snatched the copper-colored ball of light before it could float away on the wind. "Anything you want to add?" she asked Ohm.

"Reep."

"Now, that's not very nice, though I do like your spirit." She shoved the copper ball straight into his forehead, where it melted away into nothingness. Ladynight teleported away and Ohm fell to the ground, where he was enveloped in a flash of light.

When the light was gone, he was no longer Ohm.

--

They heard a dull explosion – well, Arashi heard it first, having gigantic Raichu ears – and raced to the window. There was a moment of silence while they tried to figure out what they were seeing.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Raye began. "But that looks and is acting suspiciously like a certain Mareep. Only majorly deformed." She pointed at a giant ball of yellow wool, blue skin, and a glowing gold glass orb. "Is it Ohm?"

"I have no idea…" Daniel admitted. "Though if it is, I really can't see how this is different from the chaos Ohm normally makes," Daniel commented, staring out the window at the far-off explosions.

"You mean besides the fact he's gigantic, is flying around like some Jumpluff, and is causing much more damage than he usually does?" Raye asked rhetorically.

"Uh, yeah, besides that…"

"Churai," Arashi muttered disdainfully.

The Pokétch on Daniel's wrists started getting really annoying, vibrating insistently. He quickly brought the watch face up to see if anything was wrong with it. It said simply, "Call incoming," which was very strange because Daniel was pretty sure normal Pokétches weren't phones.

Then again, it wasn't exactly normal.

"Uh, Raye," he began, not being able to find a button to answer the call.

Raye rolled her eyes and tapped the watch face twice. "I swear, you'd think that Pokémon Rangers hadn't seen any technology at all," she muttered.

"That's not true, just because you're all techies – "

"Daniel, are you going to listen or not?" Serena's voice interrupted. "Hi Raye."

"Hey, Serena. Did you call because of the giant thing floating in the air going and attacking buildings?" Raye asked.

"Mm-hmm. Mareep-based, though some Jumpluff qualities to help it fly. Very destructive tendencies, even for one. Daniel, you go out and stall for time while the other Rangers get there."

"But that's _my_ Mareep terrorizing the city," Daniel protested. "I can't just kill him like that Sableye-Sneasel thing!"

"Erebus," Serena said. "And yes, I can't ask you to destroy your own Pokémon, but you won't have to. See how he's been mutated? That would be a temporary effect. Erebus was one of the soldiers in the first battle between Abbadon and Eden. His body was a construct. The body was destroyed and the spirit sent back to their world. On the other hand, if you defeat this one, the other spirit that was forced into your Mareep will take the damage and be forced to the same place, but the body will return to the way it was."

"Okay," Daniel said dubiously. "I'll go stop Ohm, then."

Serena cut the call, and Raye decided cleaning up the lunch table could wait and got a seat at the window to watch.

--

The Mareep now looked like a very strange and deformed sheep (large, too). Well, mostly a ball of fluffy yellow wool, but the rubbery blue-skinned face of his was still there, and the stubby legs and (lack of…) paws. His tail, however, had migrated to the middle of his back and the glowing gold orb on the end had expanded to maybe his size, and was acting like a helium-filled balloon to pull him up in the air, along with two stalks of yellow wool that resembled a Jumpluff's. If a human had found a creature like that injured, they would have either been scared out of their wits or ran to someone demanding advice on how to cure mutated Pokémon.

It was just a pity that this particular mutation required a lot more than any Nurse Joy could ever do. Well, except maybe Guinevere Joy, but she didn't count.

Daniel had managed to morph, call his weapons, and now was wondering what to do. He decided to fall back on Ohm's greatest weakness. Hopefully Ohm still kept it when he was being all mutated. Daniel shouted up to the floating Mareep, "Hey, wool for brains! Come down here so I can knock the stuffing out of you!"

It didn't quite get the reaction Arashi's insults always got, but then Daniel had never understood them in the first place. Instead of the Mareep unleashing a wrathful burst of electricity targeted at Daniel, it turned to regard him with a beady black eye. _Then_ the yellow glass ball sparkled with white-blue electricity, which shrieked through the air to slam into Daniel. The suit absorbed most of the lightning, though the force of it still shoved him back a couple of paces. "Ow," he muttered. "Serena?"

"You gonna listen now?" she asked.

"Well _duh_."

"Anyway. The other Rangers should be there sooner or later. As a matter of fact, Zoey should be there right about – "

A yellow blur practically ran straight into a building, but swerved at the last possible minute and threw up dust and asphalt with an ear-tearing screech.

"Now."

Zoey, already morphed, climbed off what looked like a motorcycle, muttering under her breath (Daniel couldn't hear what, but he guessed they were probably swears). Painted yellow and gold, it was dazzling in the afternoon sun, sleek and aerodynamic. None of which mattered to Zoey, who was leaning against it and gasping. Apparently the ride hadn't agreed with her.

"You need practice," he teased.

"Never again," Zoey managed. "What _is_ that?" she asked, obviously referring to the abnormal mix of Mareep and Jumpluff hovering above their heads.

"My Mareep," Daniel said. "Razor Leaf!" The flurry of knife-sharp leaves sliced into a bolt of lightning, somehow managing to negate the attack.

"Must've been hard to keep fed." She straightened, apparently having recovered from her ride, as the motorcycle disintegrated into yellow dust, hopefully returning to Treasure Beach instead of being destroyed. "Thunder Daggers! Thunder!" A bolt of electricity shrieked out from the otherwise clear sky, aimed straight for the Mareep. However, it was sucked into the golden orb, which only grew brighter. Ohm-Mareep-Jumpluff-monster-whatever didn't seem to notice, or at least not care.

A second motorcycle roared into the street. This one was light blue – cyan – and gold, and carried the corresponding Ranger. "Sorry, had to get away from my parents," Rachel apologized, getting off with considerably more ease than Zoey had. Her motorcycle disintegrated into cyan dust as well once she was on the ground. "Winter Halberd! Ice Beam!" She pointed the now-glowing blade at the ball of wool, and an icy blue-white beam shot out, spiraling elegantly towards it. The beam struck head-on, knocking Ohm farther into the sky, before the cold air forced him down. Apparently his orb didn't just absorb electricity, but functioned like a hot air balloon.

"Hey, I have a question," Daniel began. "How _did_ you two get here on motorcycles? Across water?"

"Oh, they turn into jet skis," Rachel grinned (well, she was, but Daniel couldn't see that beneath the helmet). "Really, really fast jet skis!"

"Talk later!" Zoey shouted, rolling out of the way of Ohm's Thunder(shock or bolt, Daniel couldn't tell. Hey, it wasn't his fault that Pokémon Rangers rarely used Pokémon attacks).

"Right," Daniel answered, as he unleashed another barrage of Razor Leaves. At the same time Rachel fired off a Powder Snow. Both attacks were met with a Shock Wave. Rapidly-melting snowflakes, charred shreds of green, and stray, weak sparks flew everywhere.

"Gah! No one said anything about raining lightning!" a familiar voice complained. The blue Ranger rode into the street, leaping off almost before the motorcycle had stopped. Apparently Jun had some experience with motorcycles. Just like Rachel and Zoey's, it turned into blue dust before fading away completely.

"Stop being overdramatic and help, Jun," Zoey ordered. "I can't affect it, Daniel and Rachel aren't doing that great a job, no offense."

"If you say so," Jun said dubiously. "If I drown it or something, can I go out with one of you?" he asked Zoey and Rachel.

"No," Zoey answered curtly. Rachel shrugged.

"Good enough," Jun decided. "Ocean Lance!" With the now-familiar burst of light, the lance materialized. He was about to do something – probably throw it – when the final cycle appeared, roaring down the street like a hellhound bent on burning down the world around its pointy black ears. It nearly crashed into the wall, skidding perilously close to it before falling over. Joy scrambled out from under the wreckage, in full red ranger glory (uh, not). "Ow," she muttered.

Jun stared at Joy, all his concentration lost. "Wow. That's the worst way to get off a motorcycle I've ever seen."

"Pay _attention_, Jun," Zoey said, deflecting another bolt of electricity with one of her own.

"And shut up about it," Joy snapped, giving the motorcycle a last retaliatory kick as it dissolved into dust.

"_You've_ got a bad temper," Jun observed blithely. With a grunt, he threw the lance at Ohm. The blue weapon soared through the air to pierce Ohm's hovering orb neatly in the center. Daniel half-expected it to pop like a cartoon balloon and for Ohm to get dragged all over the city in strange patterns and sweeping curves and all those things typical for suddenly popped balloons. He didn't, but went crashing down, taking out the side of a building as he went. "Oops," Jun muttered.

"Someone else can pay that," Joy said impatiently. "Come on. Magma Sword!"

"Hold on a minute," Jun said, heading off in the general direction the lance had fallen.

"Don't bother," Serena's voice said over the link. "Just call it. 'Return' should work fine."

"Okay," Jun said dubiously. "Return." The Ocean Lance did indeed reappear in his hands, and he almost dropped it. "Cool!"

"You know what, that's pointless anyway," Serena said. "Right now, anyway."

"Why?" Jun asked. His question was promptly answered by a burst of red fire that disappeared almost as suddenly as it had lit up. Then a burst of white light, a copper flare that spiraled up into the sky so quickly it was gone within a second. "Oh…"

"Oh," Serena agreed. "Aine says the spirit is gone. No giant robot battle this time, so get out of there and back to whatever you were doing."

"Oh, come on," Jun complained. "I liked the giant robots."

"Serena?" that was Daniel.

"Mhm?"

"We need answers, _now._"

Serena laughed. "Join the club. Aislynn and Aine won't tell me anything worthwhile. They make a Clamperl look talkative. We can discuss this next Sunday. Now demorph before you get swarmed by rabid fangirls and boys."

Mass shudder.

--

Ladynight sighed, getting up from her usual crystal ball/TV that served as her window into the Rangers' battles. "So they've destroyed the irritating cottonpuff too," she muttered to herself. "Good." _Just like Lusion-X said they would._

Then she sighed. This was going to take absolutely forever.

--

"AISLYNN! AINE!" Joy stormed into the base, practically steaming. It would have been funny if she didn't look extremely murderous about it too.

"She looks like a Tauros," Jun whispered in awe. Zoey elbowed him. Hard. He hissed in pain and clutched dramatically at his side. Happily, Joy didn't notice and wound him further.

"Serena's hunting them down," Rachel volunteered. "She said we should wait here."

Joy looked around. Bare rock walls. Bare rock floor. Jun and Zoey arguing (again) over to her left, Rachel sitting on the ground, knees tucked up to her chest on the right, and Daniel leafing through what looked like an ordinary book by the entrance to the tunnel-maze-thing. "And do what?"

Rachel shrugged. "Dunno. Serena always was annoying like that."

Joy walked over to sit down as well, since she was starting to feel silly standing in the doorway. "Always?"

"Oh yeah," Rachel confirmed. "Ever since we were kids, Serena did everything her own way. I don't think it ever occurred to her what other people considered normal."

"Really? I heard she was made an Island Leader three years ago. I didn't think a ten-year-old could have qualified, actually."

"Well, she had an advantage over the average ten-year-old," Rachel said. "Serena was _the_ Genius. With a capital G. When she was eight, she applied for a permit to train Pokémon. We lived in Celadon at the time, and she could train without traveling everywhere." Rachel sighed. "So when Mom and Dad heard about the Island Leader opening, Serena decided to apply. And I'm the average one."

"Not anymore," Joy grinned wickedly. "Unless average people go around kicking mutant a – "

"Found them." Serena walked out of the maze with the two twins, her rather smug look mirrored on her Persian – Jin's – face. "Well, Jin did, actually."

"You need to get chairs," Daniel informed them, closing his book. "Stone is not comfortable."

"I trust you did not all gather here to tell us that?" asked one of the Ai.

"Of course not," Zoey shrugged. "But we need to know more than what you're telling us. Why are – Eden and Abbadon, right? – fighting? Who exactly is Ladynight? How did they get the Mareep turned into a monster? And how come he wasn't attacking as violently as Erebus? Oh, and why was there no annoying infestation of Glyphs?"

Aislynn and Aine traded glances. "Eden and Abbadon's fight is one we do not know, nor could we reveal it if we did. Ladynight we have no knowledge on, as she was not among the warriors millennia ago. We do not know why the Glyphs failed to make an appearance. As for the Mareep…"

"Well?" Daniel prompted.

"We are not certain of this, but we believe that one of Abbadon's warriors must have the ability to call forth souls. Erebus was a warrior from the old days, but his body was a construct. His soul was used to move the construct and fight. In that same way, one of Abbadon's warriors has summoned another soul of Abbadon's warriors to infuse your Mareep. There are two different souls that could do so – a knowledge or a mutation. Knowledge souls are more passive, and while they do usually carry some physical changes, most of the time the mind is intact. Mutation spirits – as the Jumpluff in the Mareep was – forcibly change the body and leave the mind controlled. It is a credit to your Mareep's…ah…persistence…"

"Mule-headed stubbornness," Daniel corrected. He felt reasonably secure in saying so because Ohm wasn't around.

Ai ignored him. "It is a credit to his persistence that his movements were so slowed. The original and transplanted souls must have been struggling to overpower the other." In unison, the two regarded all six humans with their cold crimson stare. "Do you have any further questions?"

Serena broke the silence first. "Not yet. It's time for target practice, though. Come on."

--

"Why'd you stop?" Jun asked on the way through the tunnels. It had gotten to the point where they no longer needed a guide through the winding labyrinth. "That's the most I've ever heard Ai say, except that really long one on the first day."

"Ever hear of 'quit while you're ahead?'" Serena inquired. "That's why. The Ai have an annoying habit of being closemouthed, as I've already said. And if they get irritated enough, they launch into a long history lesson, and I mean _long_. Eyewitness accounts and all. Their own. So far they've gotten to the last millennium."

"They're that old?!" Jun was amazed, and it was obvious to them all.

"Older, probably," Serena said disinterestedly.

"Why, thinking of hitting on them?" Zoey asked.

"Not anymore!"

--

A/N: While I was writing this, I thought of a crack pairing for some strange reason. It's called ViolentElectricDemonShipping. Guess who it involves.

--


End file.
